


a good deal

by moon_moth



Category: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Genre: Arguing, F/M, Ferengi, Fights, Love, Making Up, Married Couple, Married Life, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-20
Updated: 2017-01-20
Packaged: 2018-09-18 15:45:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,925
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9392078
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/moon_moth/pseuds/moon_moth
Summary: Ishka knows one when she sees one.





	

**Author's Note:**

> that's it, i've gone too far.
> 
> establishing timelines is hard. this takes place sometime around when Rom leaves home. just before? just after? you decide. for an extra twist of angst, like the lime wedge that turns a rum and coke into a cuba libre, you can turn this into Horrid Pain by reminding yourself that we don't actually know when Keldar passed away. how many years did he have? [shrug] haha, hey, i wonder who's [sob] crying???
> 
> it's only a matter of time before i write the Every Ferengi Lives, No Ferengi Dies Ever AU
> 
> (ps- my other In Progress fic will have to wait until i've replaced my laptop and recovered my files from it's hard drive. pray to the lappy gods for me so that i can finish up with Reyga)

Time and time again, it happened. A deal fell through, a negotiation went bad, an opportunity was squandered, and Keldar came home with less latinum than he'd started out with. It was always one step forward and two steps back. They could never get ahead. Today was another step back- she could tell by the way her husband crept through the door quietly and snuck off toward their bedroom, hoping to elude her under the guise of 'being tired' and 'needing a nap.' She hissed to herself and set her jaw, stomping off toward the hallway.

"Keldar," she shouted when she spotted him slinking away. He froze, sighed, and turned around, looking harried and nervous. He didn't reply, and she didn't wait for him to anyway. "How did the deal go?" 

Her voice was stern, and it was crystal clear she already knew the answer to her question. 

"It, uh... I'm tired. Let's talk about it later." 

"Oh no you don't!" 

She leapt at him like a Klingon jackal, blocking the doorway. 

"We're talking about it now! It fell through, didn't it? _Didn't it?!"_

"Well-..." 

"Well?!" 

"... yes." 

_**"I knew it!"**_

"Then why did you bother asking?" he said, sounding somewhere between sulky and annoyed.

"I can't believe you messed that up! It was practically fool-proof! If you had just done what I'd told you-" 

"I don't have to do what you tell me! **I'm** the husband, not you!" 

"You're an idiot, is what you are! It was so simple! Anyone with the lobes would've done exactly what I suggested! You know it's true. Every time I give you advice, you ignore it, and lose profit! You'd think by now you'd have picked up on the pattern, but apparently you lack _common sense_ as well as _business sense!_ Unbelievable! You could've come home with a fat stack of latinum in your hands, but you ended up with nothing, **yet again**."

"Why do you always have to do this, Ishka?" 

"Why do _you_ always have to lose money, Keldar?" 

"I'll make it up tomorrow, just leave me alone!" 

"No you won't! You won't make it up, you never make it up, all you do is dig yourself in deeper! It's a wonder we have anything!" 

"You don't get a say! 'Females and finances don't mix,' it's right there in the Rules!" 

**_"Well the Rules are stupid!"_** she roared. "They're **useless** if they don't work! They're supposed to _help_ you earn profit, not keep you from it! And that's exactly what _that_ rule is doing! You lost latinum today because you followed a pointless, counterproductive rule! If the last Rule of Acquisition said, 'Now walk over the edge of a cliff,' would you do it?? I bet you would! Because you're so obsessed with clinging to tradition you can't tell when it's hurting you! You're acting like a fool!" 

For a moment, it looked like he had no answer for this. He stared at her, wide-eyed and slack-jawed, until a surge of emotion heaved in his chest. 

"We all have our lot in life, Ishka! Yours is to be a wife and mother, mine is to go out and do business. You think I'm completely satisfied with my role?? I'm not! I hate it! But it's not my choice, and it's not yours either!" 

"Why?? Why isn't it our choice, Keldar??! Who is it who decides that neither of us gets to be happy? This is ridiculous!" 

"Ridiculous or not, earning profit is _my_ job!" 

"Well it's a job you're no good at! The only time you've ever come back from a transaction with anything to show for it is when you stumble into profit by accident! You're a laughingstock! Your associates run circles around you, passing you around to be their patsy and you never get wise to it! You let anyone and everyone get the upper hand on you. The neighborhood children could swindle the shirt off your back and you wouldn't notice until you felt the rain hitting you! Why can't you just face it? You just don't have the lobes for business! ..."

She paused to take a breath, expecting him to come back with something in the brief silence... but suddenly, in the midst of their argument, her husband deflated. She was right in the middle of a tirade, and without even finishing, he looked utterly beaten. Her breath stuck in her throat, and he sighed. 

"You're right," he said, and the way he said it almost made her sorry that she was. 

For a moment, it was silent. No sound between them but their hearts and the rain. It was rare that Ishka was left with nothing to say, but for the moment all she could do was stare at him. She had wanted to get through to him, yes... but she hadn't wanted to _break_ him. Keldar was soft; had she been too hard? 

He was barely breathing. His shoulders sagged. Even his heartbeat sounded... off. She heard thudding, skipped beats. His head hung down, so she couldn't see his face. 

When the quiet became too much, she tried his name. It felt heavy in her mouth. 

"Keldar...?" 

"You're right," he said again, in an awful, flat voice, "and I'm sorry for taking this out on you. The truth is, I should listen to you and I know it. Every day I fight with myself... I keep trying to do the right thing, and I keep failing. I'm no good at business." 

It was quiet again; she repeated his name but got no answer. Not at first. Then he made a strange noise- it took a second for her to register it as a sob. She said his name again - her own voice sounding odd and small- and got nothing. She tilted her head to peer at his downcast face, and saw something she'd never seen before: he was crying. 

She'd seen him misty-eyed before, for one reason or another... perhaps even a single tear rolling down his cheek... but she'd never seen him like this. She felt like her throat was in a vise. 

"I'm no good." 

That's when she realized those were her own words, and suddenly she felt sick. 

"I... I didn't mean it like that..." 

"That doesn't make it less true," he said, weeping openly. "I'm no good to you or our sons or myself. If I can't earn profit then what good am I?" 

He expected no answer to this question, and for several long moments he got none. He was wrong- he was wrong in ways she could hardly begin to describe. She scrambled for something to say with her heart in her mouth and her ears full of his crying. 

"Damn it, Keldar, I didn't _mean it_ like that! I-...!" 

She sighed sharply. Why was this so hard to say? She tried again, but he interrupted her. 

"Ishka..." he shook his head, "don't. Don't take it back. There's only one way _to_ mean it- no good is no good." 

"Just because you're no good at business-" 

"But what else _is there_?" he exploded, whirling around on his heels and pacing the hallway. Sobs wracked his voice even as he shouted. She hated the sound of it. "What else is there for a Ferengi to be good at? Failure? Idiocy? Disappointing his wife?? I'm great at those things! No, Ishka, there is no 'just because.' There's nothing else." 

"There's us," she answered before thinking about it. "There's our sons. If you're no good to us, then why do we love you so much?" 

He looked at her again, finally. She saw pale, startled eyes, still streaming tears. 

"I could've gotten out," she continued. "You know my father wanted to marry me off to someone else when our contract was up. I was the one who wanted to renew it! I put my foot down! I stayed! And why do you think I did that? Because I had faith in your business skills?!" 

"For the boys," he said. 

"Not just for the boys. You would've done fine on your own, if you'd had to. I'm here because I want to be here. Because I love you. Why would I want to be here if you were no good to me? I know a good deal when I see one, don't I? Don't dare deny it!" 

She stared straight at him, unblinking, until a fresh burst of tears welled up and spilled down his face, splattering on the floor like raindrops off his coat. She took a step toward him, and without hesitation he collapsed onto her shoulder. She felt his sobs and his thrumming pulse as burning tears ran down her skin. His arms were around her waist, so gently. 

"I've never felt like I deserved you, never once. I've spent our whole married life together envious of you, in awe of you, bewildered by you, and so in love with you... and I wish I were a better husband." 

"You're a good husband," she said, feeling tears start in her own eyes, "and I wish I'd said so as often as I've said... other things." 

She felt his arms tighten around her. 

"Those other things were the truth. I'm sorry. I'll try to be better." 

"They weren't the only truth. 'I love you' is the truth, too." 

He looked at her then, and she thought for the millionth time how much she adored his sweet, blue eyes. The ones he'd given her children. Had she ever told him how happy that made her? 

"And I love you," he said.

"Keldar, I-... I know I've been hard on you. And whether you deserved it or not isn't the issue anymore, so let's forget it," she warned, seeing that he'd been about to protest again. "Maybe you're not the best businessman, but that doesn't come close to defining who you are. This family depends on you- I don't even want to think about where we'd be without your love and support. And that may not be latinum, but to me it's worth _everything._ " 

"You've certainly paid enough for it," he said softly. "Maybe too much." 

"I'd do it all over again if I had the chance." 

He tried to smile at her with a quivering lip, and leaned into the embrace again. He nuzzed her gently where her shoulder met her neck. 

"I know I'm supposed to put profit ahead of everything- but I confess, I've never been able to. That's probably why I'm so bad at earning it. I've always cared about people more. About you, and Quark, and Rom. And even if I don't have two slips to rub together, I'll always have a treasure as long as I have you. It doesn't matter _how_ much you yell at me, you're the most precious thing in the universe. You're magnificent. Yell at me forever, I don't care. I'll still count myself lucky." 

They pressed their foreheads together and she let her eyelids droop shut, enjoying the closeness. She felt him sigh again, peacefully this time, and nudge her cheek. 

"I'm tired of being a businessman," he said. "I have a proposition for you, Ishka." 

"Oh? What is it?" 

He nudged her cheek again: slowly, affectionately. 

"Tonight, I'll quit being a husband... and you quit being a wife..." 

She felt his nose trailing along, not stopping, until her earrings jingled. She bit her lip. 

"... and we'll just be two people who love each other." 

"That sounds nice."

He took her hand, and led her into the bedroom.


End file.
